An Eye for Another
by tabjoy13
Summary: Kakashi's musings on the battlefield after Madara takes Obito's eye from him. Rating for eye gore and field surgery.


**An Eye for Another**

"Let me see, sensei," Sakura said gently, trying not to wince at the state of the man before her. Madara had ripped out Kakashi's eye. She could hardly comprehend the brutality of the action. It wasn't just the large-scale, general attacks but the individual, intimate pain he caused that made Madara cruel.

Kakashi was relieved that he had allies by his side. The throbbing in his skull merged with his general fatigue, making it difficult to concentrate and hard to defend himself. He didn't expect to survive the night, but he would do what he could while he could still do it. Kakashi moved his hand away from the achingly empty hole to allow Sakura the view she demanded. He tried to relax. His eyelid was snapped closed in a futile effort to protect something that was no longer there.

Kakashi knew he should be happy that the fiend only took the eye, but Obito's eye was important to him. It wasn't just what the Sharingan allowed him to do, it was _Obito's_ Sharingan, his Obito. Rin had transplanted the eye and it had been _that_ Obito's parting gift to him. Now, Kakashi thought, he'd failed him again.

Kakashi felt his student's soothing chakra dull the pain. The blood from the wound trickled down his cheek, soaking into his mask. These sensations were nothing compared to the pounding in his head and the raw hole in his skull. _He ripped out my _eye_! He just came and took it and I couldn't do anything to stop him. _Kakashi thrust these frantic thoughts aside. They would do him no good now. 

Sakura was explaining what had happened between her and Obito and Kakashi focused on that. He took a few steadying breaths, staying engaged in the conversation as much as he was able. His personal problems could wait. It wouldn't do to panic in front of his students. They needed to see him calm, now more than ever.

"Let me try, Sakura-chan." That was Naruto's voice.

"Naruto?" Kakashi looked up at his student who was literally glowing with power. His lone eye adjusted to the sudden brightness. Dark orbs floated behind the blond. Filing this information away for a spare moment, Kakashi struggled through the pain to stay focused and keep his mind in the present. If Naruto wasn't concerned about the dark orbs then they could wait.

Sakura stepped away to give Naruto room and Kakashi remained very still. He wasn't sure what Naruto was going to do but Kakashi wasn't about to protest. Naruto was different. Kakashi couldn't really judge how but, when Naruto said he wanted to help, Kakashi believed that he could. Naruto's chakra control wasn't sensitive enough for medical jutsu but somehow, Kakashi was sure Naruto could do something. What that something was, Kakashi didn't know. Sakura had already reduced the pain to a manageable level, which was all Kakashi should expect while on the battlefield. Taking a quick inventory of himself, Kakashi frowned. He could fight, but not for long; his reserves were nearly spent. The last of his chakra flickered inside of him like a starving lamp.

Naruto reached out with his hand and covered Kakashi's eye socket. The jonin did not flinch but his remaining eye widened in surprise. He didn't want anyone anywhere near the left side of his head. Only his trust in Naruto kept him from recoiling; if Naruto thought he could help it was worth a try.

"What are you trying to do?" Sakura asked, confused.

Sasuke kept his guard up, his attention solely on their surroundings. Madara could reappear at any time.

"Shh, just watch," Naruto replied.

Kakashi watched, but he could only see Naruto glowing in front of him. The ball of pain that had replaced Obito's eye ebbed away. Despite his determination to keep his mind on the present, Kakashi's memories flew, unbidden, back to _that_ day.

"Stay still," Rin's voice only trembled a little. "I'm going to have to take your old eye out first."

A newly promoted Kakashi nodded curtly, grasping at his composure. His shoulders shook and he shivered uncontrollably. Obito lay there next to them, half crushed, but he had asked his friends for one last thing. They would see to it that his wish was honored.

Rin's hand touched Kakashi's face and his hands began to shake. He clenched his fingers, hands balling into fists, to still them. Carefully, she peeled back the jonin's eyelid and gore flowed out against the pressure. Her other hand came up quickly to rest on the side of his head. If it was to steady him, herself, or to use more medical chakra, Kakashi didn't want to know. In truth it was all three.

Even growing up in a war, Rin had never done a full eye transplant before, much less in the field. She had read about how it was done and understood how it worked, but even her nightmares hadn't prepared her for this scenario. Kakashi didn't make a sound, which was as much for his pride as her encouragement. Things were bad enough as it was.

Obito was pulverized, beyond her help, and Kakashi, their unflappable Kakashi, knelt trembling before her. She saw how much willpower it took for him to stay upright and still for her. Now she had to give him Obito's eye.

Rin stiffened her spine. This was what Obito wanted. It didn't matter that she was devastated over the rupture of their team or terrified that she wouldn't do the transplant correctly. Her guilt for being captured was also shoved aside. She had no room for such luxuries in her life, not now. With a fortitude that outstripped even the best combat medics, Rin steadied her hands and got to work.

Rin concentrated on the chakra she was pushing into Kakashi's head. She changed its shape and then, with one sure stroke, severed the connections of the bisected eye. She held the optic nerve and chakra pathways in place with one glowing hand. With the other, she stuck a single finger between the sliced eyeball and her captain's skull. Hooking her finger around behind, she pulled. The ruined organ squeezed out, oozing as it pressed through the opening.

Rin wiped away the blood that dribbled down Kakashi's face with her soiled hand. Her other hand stayed at Kakashi's temple, keeping the chakra flowing to hold the nerves and pathways at the ready. If she faltered now, she wouldn't be able to connect Kakashi's optic nerve to the new eye. Kakashi would have Obito's Sharingan but he'd be blind.

Kakashi's body betrayed him with the occasional tremble. He didn't say a word. Obito was dying. The new jonin berated himself for not even being able to sit still. 

"There," Rin said briskly, as if she'd just given Kakashi a band-aid. She absently wiped her free hand clean. "Now that that's done."

Rin turned to Obito. Her eyes reflected the callous layers she was putting between her feelings and what was happening, what was about to happen. "Obito, I'll have to do this one handed. It will hurt."

Obito managed a breathy chuckle. "I can't feel much of anything Rin. I don't think it will hurt me at all." He reached his working hand up and pulled his eyelids apart. He prompted her further, "I'll stay as still as I can." His eye fixed on the ceiling while he waited.

Rin's stomach twisted. "Thank you," her voice was cold and expressionless, her eyes hard. She reached out with her free hand and removed his eye, using her chakra to keep the orb from being damaged.

Obito gasped but didn't speak. When Rin glanced at him again, his eyelid was closed and blood seeped out from the space underneath. Obito was crying blood but there was a smile on his pale face.

Turning to the patient she expected to live, Rin's lip started to tremble. She bit down hard and then spoke quickly. "This will hurt," she warned Kakashi only a second before she jerked his left eyelid back open as far as it could go. With a decisive movement, she pushed the new eye in. Both hands surged with chakra, impatient to reconnect the nerves and chakra pathways.

Rin sat in front of Kakashi for several minutes, hands on his face, unmoving. Despite her stillness, Kakashi knew that she was working. He felt her effort inside of his own head. It was an unsettling sensation, feeling the jolts of pain and pulses of chakra deep within his skull. It was agony but Kakashi knew it would be over soon. Rin was a field medic, no nonsense. She got the job done quickly and with as little wasted chakra as possible.

Kakashi knew the wound would scar. Rin couldn't waste chakra on his face when they may need to fight or flee at any second. The young jonin was glad for it. He wanted a reminder of this lesson that had cost so much to learn. He would be Obito's eye. He would see the future for the both of them.

"Try opening that eye, sensei."

Kakashi opened his eye. It was not Rin before him, but Naruto. And it wasn't Obito's eye but- Kakashi stared straight ahead, with both eyes, in shock. It was his.

Kakashi felt no excessive drain on his chakra. There was no struggle in his mind to sift through the extra information his left eye gave him. He could simply see, with both eyes. A great tension released in Kakashi's mind. It was as if his right eye was sighing in relief; the burden was now equal. Kakashi closed his eyes and took a slow breath.

Sakura was demanding answers from Naruto but Kakashi tuned the discussion out. The last time Kakashi's vision was like this, his whole team had been alive. He opened his eyes and looked at Team Seven, _his_ Team Seven. They were the future he had wanted Obito to see. Kakashi had lost the Sharingan, but he didn't need to be Obito's eye anymore. Obito could see the future for himself.


End file.
